Majority owner John McGraw retired as manager in 1932 after thirty years at the helm, naming his protégé, young star first baseman Bill Terry, recently the last .400 hitter in the National League, as his player-manager successor. Somewhat similarly, former superstar hurler Walter Johnson also retired in 1932 as Senator manager in favor of young star shortstop Joe Cronin as their new player-manager. (McGraw watched the Series from the stands, and died four months later.)

The Senators were the surprise team of 1933, breaking a seven-year monopoly on the AL title jointly held by the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Athletics from 1926 to 1932. But this could also be called a joint thirteen-year monopoly by all three, since the Senators had also won in 1924–25 and the Yankees won in 1921–23.

Washington, D.C. has not hosted another World Series since 1933. In 2012, the Washington Nationals, formerly the Montreal Expos, brought back postseason play to D.C. for the first time in 79 years but blew the NLDS one strike away from eliminating the St. Louis Cardinals after their early 6–0 lead had evaporated. This first Washington Senators franchise became the Minnesota Twins during the 1960–61 offseason, and would not reach the World Series again until 1965 as the Twins. The second Washington Senators, inaugurated in 1961 to replace the first edition on its way to Minnesota, became the Texas Rangers in 1972, who were also defeated four games to one in their first World Series ever by the now San Francisco Giants in 2010, with both Series 77 years apart starting in the Giants' home park and the Giants losing only Game 3 on the road in each. The Rangers were then defeated again in the 2011 World Series by the St. Louis Cardinals. They had two chances to win in Game 6 when they came within one strike of winning.